BUHLER - It's not uncommon to spot teenagers in this small town walking down Main Street to the nearby grade school, just a few blocks away.

Sunday

Dec 21, 2008 at 12:01 AMDec 21, 2008 at 5:00 PM

Darcy Gray - The Hutchinson News - dgray@hutchnews.com

The friendships that have developed between Buhler High School students and Buhler Grade School students are attracting attention from others across the state - as the second-largest partnership in Kansas for YouthFriends, a school-based mentoring effort that links volunteers in the community with students.

Kelly Nelson, a spokesperson for Buhler USD 313, said 107 high-school students are mentors to 324 Buhler Grade School students. Most of the high school students mentor for about an hour a week, while some volunteer more of their time or help more than one child.

"It's pretty phenomenal," said Diane Caton, director of Reno County YouthFriends. "It's good for the high school students to be able to provide that role-modeling to the younger students - the impact is very lasting."

The Future Farmers of America program at Buhler High School has adopted YouthFriends mentoring as a club project, Caton said, with agriculture teacher John Clark encouraging students to participate.

Students can also letter in the activity if they accumulate more than 25 mentoring hours in the school year, said Candy Beasley, the district's YouthFriends coordinator and director of the Shining Stars preschool program at Buhler Grade School.

"It's grown every single year," Beasley said of the number of high school students who are mentors. "We probably started out with around 20 students."

Between the months of August and November, Beasley said, the high school students logged 575 hours with their grade school counterparts.

Carolyn Corwin, who teaches family and consumer sciences at the high school, includes YouthFriends training in her classes each semester, Caton said, so her students can become mentors.

"It's hands-on learning that applies directly to their coursework in class," Caton said.

Corwin's Early Childhood class visits preschoolers every week in the Shining Stars program at the grade school.

"If you could see these little kids ... it's a day that they never miss school," Beasley said. "They look forward to having the high school kids come and spend time with them."